Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Berkeley's Southside Gets Its First Certified Green Restaurant

Tue, Dec 7, 2010 at 9:20 AM

You'd think all the restaurants on Telegraph Avenue in the blocks just south of the UC Berkeley campus would be certified green businesses.

But with one exception, they're not.

Last week, Maoz Vegetarian announced that it had just received its green certification from the US Green Building Council "and is the only green restaurant on Telegraph within a few blocks of campus," said owner Josh Schaeffer. "To achieve this Maoz has switched its lighting from 60 watt incandescent bulbs to 8 watt cold cathode bulbs, using far less energy and improving the type of lighting to illuminate the restaurant. Some of the highlights that Maoz has done in its green certification included using LEED tiles on its walls, composting of all food waste and paper goods, as well as reusing packaging as garbage bags to cut down on waste."

As for those repurposed trash bags: "They fit, so I tried them and they held up okay," Schaeffer said.